FALCONRY. 215 



that Saturday (August 28, 1346) when the Crows of Cressy gave victory to 

 England, to France defeat *. Let not the grim spectre of scepticism, taking 

 intellect on the rebound, step into the vacant space. 



In Part II. p. 68 the legal payment of a sore sparrow-hawk at the 

 close of fictitious suits is noticed, A similar fine, the result of a suit of 

 warranty, January 27, 1276, is mentioned in Eyton's 'Antiquities of Shrop- 

 shire,' vol. vi. p. 144 : Robert Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells, grants 

 the Manor of Langley and the Chapel of Rokleye &c., the consideration 

 being a sore sparrow-hawk. 



Again (p. 167^, " In September 1 199, William de Bikedon was impleaded, 

 under wTit of mort d'ancestre, by William fitz Geoffrey, when he conceded 

 to the Plaintiff a virgate and messuage to hold in fee, rendering therefore 

 one sore falcon yearly, in lieu of all, except forinsec services " (^forinsec 

 meaning foreign, or out of the manor). 



Messrs. Salvin and Brodrick, p. 55, mention an advertisement in 1665 : — 

 " A Sore Ger Falcon of His Majesty, lost the 13th of August, who had one 

 varvel of his keeper, Roger Higs, of Westminster, Gent. Whosoever hath 

 taken her up and give notice to Sir Allan Apsley, Master of His Majesties 

 Hawks at St. James's, shall be rewarded for his paines. 



"Back stairs in WMtehalV 



Hawks and Falcons appear to have been associated with the transfer of 

 land in very early times more than any other birds. Yet, at p. 275 in the 

 above vol. of Eyton, we read that " Roger de Mortimer grants to William de 

 Spyneto, for his homage, the land of Rockehull ; the grantee to pay six 

 Woodcocks at the feast of S. Andrew [November 30]." In a note, " Withe- 

 cocos is the word" which Mr. Eyton, at a guess, translates "Woodcocks." 



* " The sky was darkened^ and the horror was increased by the hoarse cries of crows and 

 ravensj which fluttered before the storm, and struck terror into the hearts of the Italians (the 

 Genoese cross-bowmen), who were unaccustomed to the northern tempests." — Stanley''s Memorials 

 of Canterbury, p. 136, edit. 1865. 



